Her Broken Promise
by FadingAshes
Summary: They made promises to each other. But in the end, she broke hers, and he was devastated. He grieved. He mourned. And she watched from above. The summary sucks but I promise the story's better!


**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Sad, I know. *sobs***

**A/N: Hope you enjoy! I just wanted to take a break from 'Veela Chaos'.**

The wind howled, the trees swayed, the snow fell, and the remaining dry cracked leaves fluttered to the ground. The weather matched the mood of one grieving wizard trudging his way with a slight limp through the thick snow that reached his knees.

A figure sporting a thick dark cloak pointed his wand at the entrance gate of the cemetery. The gate was locked; heavy chains weaving a complicated pattern around the hinges like the twists and turns of a cobweb.

But a whispered _Alohomora_ was all it took for the chains to fall to the snow-covered ground silently and the gates to swing open slightly.

The figure pushed the gates open and skillfully maneuvered his way around the tombstones, having memorized the way to one particular grave but always with the limp slightly slowing his speed.

He stopped and gazed down at the engraving on the cold hard stone, breathing deeply as wisps of white floated from his lips and nose. He drew his cloak tighter to his body and casted a warming charm with a flick of his wand.

_Hermione Jean Granger_

_19 September, 1979—2 May, 1998_

_Cowards die many times before their death, but the valiant never taste of death but once._

"H-Hermione," He choked out, "It's been three years, love, there's not a day that goes by that I don't think of you."

He took in a painful breath.

"You promised, Hermione, you said that you would always be there for me, and I for you. But where are you now? Where, Hermione?"

He knelt down on one knee and absentmindedly traced her engraved name with his fingers, brushing the snow away from the tombstone.

"I miss you. I miss your laugh, I miss your smile, I miss the kisses and hugs we shared, and I-I miss your eyes the most." He let out a strangled sob before composing himself. He remembered her eyes, the way they brightened like light bulbs whenever something delighted her. The thought of never witnessing it again racked his body into heavy sobs he could not keep in. An unwanted memory slipped into his mind.

_oOo_

"_Have I just seen the mighty Slytherin prince pout? Oh, I must immediately go write a letter to notify Satan that hell is officially freezing over." Hermione giggled, and he took her distraction as an advantage to study her beautiful face. _

_She was so beautiful. He loved the golden flecks in her sorrel eyes, the freckles splattered across her nose, and the curve of her lips. And more, but it would take more than one parchment to list all of them._

_She gradually stopped her giggles and noticed his intense gaze._

"_What?" She frowned and ran her fingers softly across her face, "Do I have something on my face?"_

"_Has anyone told you just how truly beautiful you really are?" He asked her, enjoying the way the blush crept up on her cheeks._

"_Well, yes, someone by the name of Draco Lucius Malfoy." She pretended to be deep in thought before her eyes once again lightened up with mischief, "Oh, he seems to be telling me that a lot quite lately."_

"_Just merely stating a fact." He drew her close to him and nuzzled into her hair. Her unruly, wild, and beautiful hair._

"_You, Draco, will never be the Mighty Keeper of Facts." She said, raising her hands to play with his blonde strands of hair._

"_And why is that?" He asked, even though he already knew the answer._

"_Because I, Hermione, am the Walking Encyclopedia, the Mighty Keeper of Facts, the Wise, the Brilliant, the Awes-" She crowed before he placed a finger on her lips, shushing her._

"_The Beautiful." He whispered before looking deep in her eyes and capturing her lips with his._

oOo

"Stop…please stop…" He gave a pained moan and clutched his head, as if doing that will block the memories from whirling back into his mind. He absentmindedly touched his lips with his fingertips, trying to remember the warm pressure that was her lips pressed against his, but all he felt was bitter cold. His warming charm was fading so he casted a stronger one with another flick of his wand.

"Y-you promised me, Hermione," He leaned his forehead against the cold rock and watched his tears drip down to the snow.

oOo

_The battlefield was filled with scattered bodies of both rival sides. A Death Eater aimed a hex at Draco, but Hermione shouted, "_Protego_!" and the hex bounced against the protection shield._

"_Draco!" She turned towards him, her hair flying everywhere, "You must apparate back into the Order's hide-out until things clear out!" _

"_No way!" He shouted back, the same time throwing a hex at an advancing Death Eater who collapsed to the ground with a scream of agony, "I'm not leaving you here! I'd rather _you_ apparate and stay safe!"_

"_I can't live if anything happens to you!" Hermione yelled over the shouting and screaming._

"_And you think _I _can if anything happens to _you_?!" He yelled back. "Stop being so selfish right now, Hermione, this is my battle as much as it is yours!"_

"_No!" She screamed, deflecting a hex, "You're injured too badly! I don't want you to get hurt further!" She stole a pointed look at his mangled leg which was rapidly seeping blood onto the battlefield. _

_He winced and tried to ignore the burning pain in his leg which was inflicted by a much painful and darker form of  
_Sectumsempra_, his skin was growing paler and paler with each passing minute._

"_I don't care!" He shouted, aiming a hex at the Death Eater who had tried to hex Hermione, "You need me here!"_

"_Yes! I need you to _stay alive_!" She looked over at him with pleading eyes. _

_Time must have stopped, because there was no way they could have remained eye contact and spoke for more than twenty seconds without getting hexed or killed._

_Hermione walked over to him and placed a hand on his right shoulder. He placed his hand on her left shoulder. They leaned forward so their foreheads were leaning against each other's._

"_Please, Draco," She swallowed painfully due to the fact that a Death Eater had tried to strangle her to death earlier during the battle. "Please do it for me, love, I-I-"Her voice cracked. "-I don't want you to die."_

"_And I don't want _you _to d-"He retorted._

"_Please, just listen to me," she gripped his shoulder tighter, "You're injured really badly by a Dark curse, if you don't go and rest within minutes you will die from blood loss. You've fought your part of the battle, Draco, and enough is enough."_

_He opened his mouth to speak but she put a finger to his lips to shush him._

"_Remember we said that once we were married we'll have kids with thick curly brown hair like mine and bright grey eyes like yours?" She smiled, but he didn't return it._

"_And that you told me that if it was boy, you wanted to name him Draco Junior and Draco Jr. for short?"She gave a laugh and a low chuckle escaped his lips._

"_I promise you, Draco," she said solemnly, a tear trickling down her cheek which he absentmindedly rubbed away, "We'll do just that after we win and survive this battle."_

_She pressed her forehead closer against his until their lips were almost touching. "I promise, Draco, I'll be there for you just as you for me. I'll be expecting a welcome kiss when the Light side win and I get back to the hide-out to find you, got it? But right now, just promise me that you'll be a good boy and apparate to the hide-out until one of the members of the Order gives you the signal that it's safe and clear and we have won. Promise?"_

_As much as he didn't want to leave her to hide and rest, the pain in his leg was getting unbearable, "I-I-" He cleared his throat, but couldn't keep tears from leaking out of his mercurial eyes. "-I promise."He paused, "An-and you? Do you promise the things you said?"_

_Hermione's gaze never left his, "I promise." _

_They pressed their lips together, not knowing it was the last kiss they would share then, and he apparated._

oOo

"Y-you promised." He choked out, rocking his body back and forth, his breath sending wisps of white into the chilly air as sobs racked his body.

oOo

_He pressed more bandages to his leg, wincing as he did so and ran his glowing wand tip along the impressive length of the wound, whispering healing enchantments. _

_He glanced at the clock, he was getting worried, and it was already over an hour and still no signal._

_As if on cue, Harry's stag patronus bursted in the room and stood on its hind legs, "Malfoy, I'm at the door…we've won."_

_He broke into a grin and limped to the front door and yanked it open to find the sight of a solemn Harry._

"_Hey, hero," He patted his back, ushering him into the room, "What are you doing here, Potter? You should be celebrating and party rocking!" He whooped, but Harry remained solemn._

"_Malfo-"_

"_I can't believe it, we won!"_

"_Malfo-"_

"_I wish I was there to see the moment you kicked Voldy's ass!"_

"_Malfo-"_

"_We're finally safe! You're finally safe! I'm finally safe! Hermione's safe!"_

_Harry gave up trying to interrupt._

"_Speaking of Hermione, where is she?" He asked with a bright smile._

_Harry remained silent and gazed up at him, a few black strands falling into his grief-clouded emerald eyes. _

_Draco took in a raspy breath and said, "Fuck, no. No. No. No! NO!" He roared and kicked the chair violently; he took out his wand and screamed a hex at the chair which left it in ashes._

"_You promised me!" He screamed, yanking his hair and pacing around the room while Order members began to fill the hide-out._

"_Malfo-" Ginny started, reaching out a hand while tears rolled down her cheeks._

"_You get away from me!" He screamed and pounded the table with his fists, beating his forehead on the hard surface. "Why did you leave me?! You promised!" He shrieked out between the slams of his forehead against the table._

"_Stop!" Harry cried out. "You're only hurting yourself! Stop!"_

_He ignored him and kept on pounding his head until someone aimed a spell at him, took away his wand, and strapped him to a chair._

"_Let me go!" He screamed. "Let me fucking go!"_

"_Listen," Ron said, his voice trembling and hoarse, "You need to cal-"_

"_Just leave!" He bellowed with anguish, "Leave me alone! Go away! Go! LEAVE!"_

_So the Order left the room quietly with tears in their eyes, and went up to the room adjacent to the enraged man's._

_And they left him there to grieve, and watched through a peephole in the wall to see the man who was once so headstrong and composed crumble…break…fall apart._

"_How could you do this to me?!" He wailed, drooping his head. "You promised…you promised me…those kids…"_

_His distressed cries were all that was heard in the hide-out that chilly night._

_oOo_

He wrenched his hands away from his tear-stained face and gazed at his trembling fingers.

"Come back, I miss you… I _need_ you…" He buried his face into his hands again, muffling his sobs.

oOo

_He sat on the open windowsill and gazed out across the dark yet beautiful forest, the bright moon peeked out from the wisps of grey clouds, allowing silver rays to escape and illuminate the trees and leaf-dappled ground._

_How long had he been here? Probably several months already. He doesn't know. He no longer trusted clocks and calendars, no more than he trusted his allies. Allies they may be, friends they aren't._

_Rebellion had been hard. He had thought his family would thrive under Voldemort's leadership after he joined the circle of Death Eaters. The circle of death. The circle of darkness. The circle where no hope and happiness dare to linger. The circle of no light. He was the first one tortured in his family, by Bellatrix, because he failed to kill Dumbledore. His mother was killed first, because of trying to stop her sister from hurting her son. Tortured to insanity with the Cruciatus Curse by Bellatrix, her own sister, after several days, the madwoman decided that she has had enough fun and let Narcissa Malfoy bleed to death with several blows of Sectumsempra. And Lucius Malfoy couldn't save his wife. Why? Because he was already dead. He had been sent out on a secret mission to kill Potter, but he returned empty-handed and defeated. And weaklings were deemed not worthy enough to be one of Voldemort's followers. His father's screams were all he could hear that night in the Death Eater's headquarters. He never saw him again. But he could see some of his father in himself whenever he looked in the mirror. Those platinum blonde hair, silver eyes, and pale skin all but echoed his father's._

_He had been powerless to save his parents, he had been too afraid, and Merlin knows what terror can do to you. Voldemort had said: "Join me or die." He selected neither of them. However tempting death was, just sleep in peace in darkness forever and escape the cruel wrath of Voldemort forever. Yeah, why not? But he was tired of living in terror. He was tired of people dying when he could have prevented their deaths. He didn't want more good people's blood on his hands anymore. He was tired of living like this. He could run away. Run away and one day avenge his mother. The night when these thoughts made themselves known in his head, he had planned his escape. And that night, he ran away. His mind and feet set to hope and light. _

_He had found some of them in Hogwarts, guarding and patrolling. There hadn't been a fight, he had dropped his wand first and raised both his hands. Battles would not do him any favors, words were more likely to succeed, and so he explained that he was rebelling. After passing__Veritaserum and Leglimency tests, he had been welcomed into the Order. But without any open arms, only with stiff nods and wary faces. But it didn't matter; he had turned away from darkness and joined the Light._

_He didn't turn around when he heard the creak of the door sliding open, and the thud of the door closing that followed. He didn't turn around because he knew it was her. He knew her footsteps, quiet and swift like a cat's. He knew her scent, sweet vanilla cream on caramel milk._

_The intruder was silent for a while before she walked towards him and set his tray of dinner on the table. Then suddenly she was besides him, standing, staring across the forest._

"_Beauty can be deadly, don't you think?" She whispered as the screech of an owl and the barks of a fox sounded._

_He finally turned and looked at her. He didn't care to respond, he just stared at her unwaveringly. _

_In the mist of darkness, she was like a beacon of light. Light. Hope. She stood tall and square-shouldered; her owlish eyes sharp and penetrating as they met his icy silver ones. Her bushy hair fell down her back like a violent brown waterfall. Her long eyelashes casting a faint shadow over her delicate sculptured nose and elegant high cheekbones. _Beautiful_. The word surfaced into his mind. He turned away from her and gazed once again at the forest. He had never used that word to describe her before. But just then, he had just discovered this classic beauty in her that attracted him like a magnet to metal. Beautiful, why not?_

"_Eat." She said simply, making his thoughts scatter away like panicked prey._

_He shrugged elegantly and kept on staring across the forest. He could see the black figure of an owl circling above the trees, no doubt searching for food._

"_Why?" He suddenly asked. His voice hoarse from lack of use._

"_Why what?" She asked, genuinely confused._

_He sighed and hopped down from the windowsill and walked towards the chairs. He settled himself comfortably before he replied, "In the start when I arrived here, you didn't look positively happy, and like the rest of your precious little Order members, you seem to want me to be anywhere but here." He paused, catching his breath and taking a sip from the teacup she brought him. "None of you wanted to get close to me, talk to me, or even look at me." He looked at her. "So why now?"_

"_What's wrong with helping?" She asked, meeting his gaze without any slight wavers. _

"_Please." He scoffed. "I know you'll rather kiss a Hippogriff's ass than help me."_

"_Then you don't know me." She replied calmly, walking over to sit across him on the other chair._

"_No." He agreed. "But I have a guess."_

"_And what is that guess, Draco?"_

_She'd called him by his first name. And he was caught off guard. His previous words died in his mouth and he struggled to find new ones._

"_S-stop be-being so cozy-feeling towards me, okay?" He snapped. "I can live without it. And you still haven't answered my question."_

"_There's not much to tell." Was her simple answer and finally he snapped._

"_Look, Granger, stop beating around the bush and just say and do what you want!" He snarled, standing up and winced slightly as the chair scraped backwards, the screech ringing in his ears. "We might be allies, but we are not fr-"_

"_I know about your parents." She whispered. But she might have well screamed it. The whisper was like chalk screeching on the blackboard._

"_How fucking dare you!" He roared, slamming his hands with a big _bang_ on the table. "You know nothing! Fucking nothing!"_

"_It's not your fault, you know, that they died." She said sadly, unfazed by his rage. "But I'm srory about your loss."_

"_Shut up! Shut the fuck up!" He breathed deeply and painfully, calming himself down. He sighed and fell back into his seat, drooping his head and whispered, "I don't need your pity!"_

"_It's not pity." She smiled sadly. "It's empathy."_

"_You don't understand!" He looked up wildly. "I'm a bad man, Granger, I've killed people before."_

"_You had to survive." She leaned forward, her gaze penetrating._

"_I could have found other ways to survive! I could have followed the Light earlier with my parents and they wouldn't have died. So many people would not have died in my hands!" His eyes locked onto hers._

"_And tell me." She said quietly, "Would your parents have followed you?"_

_He looked away and swallowed painfully, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. "No." He admitted. "They were too close to Voldemort." He paused. "But they cared about me. They never loved me, but they cared. And that was enough."_

"_It isn't your fault, Draco." She whispered, "Everyone has lost their loved ones. Like me."_

"_What happened?" He asked, leaning forward in curiosity._

_She smiled sadly, "It was a long time ago."_

"_I've got time to listen." _

_She hesitated then took a deep breath._

"_Not many people know that I had an older sister. Well, I've never really discussed it with anyone except, you, Harry, and Ron. Her name was Katie. She was only twelve years old when…" She got out of her seat and sat on the windowsill, her eyes absent and unfocused. He followed her every move. "She was four years older than me. She was twelve at that time, and I was eight. Our family went to an amusement park; the sky was darkening when Katie and I got lost. We wandered around, calling for our mom and dad, and that's when we heard gunshots and footsteps. We became scared, terrified, frozen. Then Katie told me to run fast, and so we did. We were running only for a few minutes, and I could hear the footsteps becoming closer when she tripped and fell. Her knee was scraped and her ankles were badly bruised and twisted and swollen. She tried to get up and continue running, but she couldn't. I still remember how she got up, took one step and fell, got up and took one step and fell; she repeated it until she gave up. I didn't want to leave her. But I was so scared. Just so, so scared." She walked to the chair and sat down again, meeting his horror-stricken gaze. "So I ran. Ran like the coward I was. I heard her screaming and crying for me to come back, to save her. But I kept on running, sobbing all the way. Someone was screaming, a long high-pitched scream that never broke for breath. I think it was because they were torturing her or something. But it seemed like a long time of screaming and then the gunshot sounded and the screams stopped. I found our parents talking to some polices at the main gate. They seemed to be talking frantically and my mom was crying while my dad struggled to compose himself. When they saw me," She smiled sadly, "They looked like Christmas had arrived early. They didn't know then, that I had just abandoned their elder daughter. I don't remember much, but I think mom led me home while dad joined the search for Katie. They found her body in six bloody pieces, a gunshot in the head part. They covered my eyes when they uncovered the body, but I caught a glimpse of her eyes, unstaring and still open, looking at me. Even though she was already dead, even at the immature age of eight, I could _feel_ her anger at being betrayed, being abandoned. I could feel the pain. I could feel her death. My parents talked to me. They told me that it wasn't my fault she died, that I was just eight years old and frightened; it was the gang that killed her. It was none on my fault." She laced her finger together and the moonlight made her well-manicured fingernails glow slightly. "But I didn't listen. She died because of me. I still wake up screaming at her to run, hear her screaming at me to stay, hear the tortured screams and sobs." She whispered. "I'll never forgive myself."_

_He was frozen with shock and horror._

"_You think I'm a monster, don't you?" She laughed coldly, "You think I should have stayed and saved her. You think I was a coward for running. You think I-"_

"_I think none of that." He said, his voice trembling a little. "Granger, like your parents said, it wasn't your fault. You didn't kill her. Those Muggle gang were the ones who killed her. Not you. You're not a coward."_

"_Don't you see?" She whispered, her haunted and pained gaze locked onto his. "I could have stayed. I could have been braver and stayed with her and saved her. I could have stopped myself from running away like a coward and just stayed with her like a loyal sibling."_

"_And what? Save her? How?" He was becoming angry that she didn't understand. "Do some serious kung-fu and defeat the baddies? Snatch their guns away and shoot their crotches? The eight years old girl that you were never stood a chance against gangs that lived to kill! That's about the same as committing suicide!" He finished his rant, breathing heavily, red in the face._

_She stared at him and a tear traced a path down her cheek. _

_He gave a deep sigh and said quietly, "Look, I'm sorry I made you upset, it's just that I wanted you to see that it really wasn't your fault she didn't make it. It was the gang that killed her. Not you." _

_She was crying freely now, her sobs echoing around the room._

_He continued, "If you hadn't fled. There would have been one more death that day. Then I would never have met you."_

_He stopped talking. She stopped crying. Silence engulfed them, broken by her occasional sniffles._

"_Do you regret it?" She whispered, wiping her tears away looking anywhere but him._

"_Regret what?" He asked, confusion clouding his mind._

"_Do you regret meeting me?" She asked shyly, a faint blush highlighting her pale and high cheekbones._

_When he didn't answer, she got up silently and walked to the door, her fingers closed around the handle and were just about to turn it and open the door when he gave his answer. It was genuine and sincere._

"_No." He said._

_He caught her smile as she walked out of his room._

_And that was the night when he came to a realization._

_Hermione Jean Granger was more than an ally. She was a friend. _

_And he didn't know then, that the new friendship would blossom into something even deeper._

_oOo_

He gazed at the snow and no longer saw it white, instead, he found it red. Bright red. Like blood. He drew in a shuddering gasp and blinked; suddenly it was no longer red and was its usual whiteness again.

"You just imagined it," He comforted himself nervously.

Red. He hated that color. He hated any color that associated with death. Red brought back too many bad memories…

oOo

_It had been a week after she died. And he had not spoken to anyone ever since. He stayed in his room, having no wish to go to Malfoy Manor or anywhere else, people brought him food and water. Talked to him even though he never responded. But today was different._

"_Mal-Draco?" Harry opened the door and stepped into the room nervously. "How are you doing?"_

Fucking fine.

"_I have something to show you," Harry said firmly, gathering enough courage to say the next sentence, "Something about Hermione."_

_He, startled, stared at Harry._

"_What is it?" He asked, his voice hoarse from the lack of use and hollow with grief and despair. Harry ached for him. _

"_My memory," Harry replied quietly, "Of her last breath."_

"_You think I want to watch her die?" He snapped, "Well, you're wrong."_

"_No! I meant…" Harry sputtered before sighing; taking out his wand and a basin appeared next to Draco. He tapped his wand against his forehead and silver wisps flowed out and weaved around his wand, and he waved them into the basin. Silver liquid filled to the brink of the basin, and Harry Potter looked sorrowfully at him, "She would have wanted you to hear the words she wanted to say to you. Use the Pensieve. Please." Then he left in a billow of emerald robes that matched his eyes._

_Draco sat on his chair for a long time, just staring at the Pensieve. Finally, with a raspy sigh, he got off his chair and kneeled in front of the basin. Taking a shuddering breath, he plunged his face into the liquid. _

_Then he was falling…falling…falling..._

_**Enter Memory**_

"_Oophtt!" He landed on the ground unharmed but shaken. He got up to his feet and looked around, and gasped in horror. He was back in the Final Battle._

No, _he thought_, anywhere but here._ But his feet had a life of their own. He was suddenly running, running fast, and there he spotted him. That raven-black hair. Harry Potter. _

"_Harry, DUCK!" A female voice he knew too well screamed._

_Harry ducked and aimed a spell at the advancing Death Eater. But Draco's eyes were fixed on her. Her hair was flying everywhere, she had several cuts on her faces and arms, she was battered and dirty, and she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen._

_And that's when he saw her. Bellatrix Lestrange slinking towards her. He tried to run to her, tried to scream out a warning, but he couldn't move, his voice didn't work._

"Flipend_o!" He heard Bellatrix scream gleefully and watched in horror as Hermione was flipped backwards into the air and landed with her right leg twisted underneath her. Her pained howl shattered his ears. Harry looked behind him and tried to stun Bellatrix but she danced away from the spell and casted what seemed like a strong and invisible barrier. _

"_NO!" Harry screamed, pounding on the barrier. "NO!" Then he started hurling spells at the barrier, but whenever the spells touched the invisible surface, it simply disappeared. _

_And then suddenly it was Draco pounding on the barrier, trying to break and shatter it. _I'm looking from Potter's eyes, _he realized. He could feel Harry's panic, his desperation, his anger as Hermione and Bellatrix dueled viciously._

_Hermione was amazing in battle. Twisting, turning, rolling, and aiming with grace and elegance. But beauty can be deadly. Hermione was top student and could probably even beat one of the professors in dueling. But this was Bellatrix. Bellatrix who had managed to take down his father and earned second place to Voldemort. Bellatrix who liked to toy her food before eating it, the way it made even the darkest murderers look away in discomfort. Hermione was no match for Bellatrix. And Hermione knew it. _

"Immobulus_!" Hermione yelled, staggering up with her right leg dangling uselessly to one side._

"Protego_!" Bellatrix murmured, flicking her wrist effortlessly._

"Sectumsempra_!" Hermione aimed at Bellatrix's wand arm but instead the spell found itself in Bellatrix's leg. Blood shot out and Bellatrix swayed on her feet, trying to find her balance and block out the pain. The madwoman howled in fury and pain and began hurtling every spell she knew at Hermione._

"Conjunctivitis_!"_

"Finite Incantatem_!"_

"Crucio_!"_

_He gasped as Hermione barely dodged it, slowed by her broken leg._

"Avada K-_!"_

"_NO!" Draco shouted in Harry's voice._

"Reducto_!" Hermione screamed, making Bellatrix dodge and stop in mid-curse._

"Expelliarmus_!"_

"Imperio_!"_

_He let out a choked scream as Hermione's wand went slack in her hand and her eyes glazed._

"_Nice try, I must admit, pretty Mudblood," Bellatrix cooed, walking closer to her, "You have a pretty face, Mudblood, but we all know how filthy your blood is underneath your skin? Isn't that right, Mudblood girl?"_

_Hermione nodded._

"_Now, do as I say," Bellatrix said in the same soft cooing voice, "Cut your right leg off."_

"_NO! WAKE UP! HERMIONE!" He screamed in Harry's panicked and horror-filled voice. In Harry's body, he pounded the barrier harder than ever and hurtled every hex he knew._

_Hermione raised her wand and placed it on her right leg, murmuring a spell in her monotonous tone, her wand glowed red and suddenly her right leg was gone. Then he saw it, a few meters away, in a large pool of blood. Her elegant, long, slender leg. Decapitated. Still there, but gone. Detached from her body._

"Innervate_." Bellatrix cooed._

_Hermione's eyes cleared and she started screaming. A long high-pitched scream that never broke for breath. She writhed on the ground, more blood spilling from her leg. Blood sprayed from her mouth as she screamed. Red blood. Bright red blood. Red. Red everywhere._

_Bellatrix giggled in glee, "_Sectumsempra_!"_

_He thought it was impossible for Hermione to scream louder, but he was wrong. He wondered how Bellatrix didin't go deaf in the ears._

"_Y-you…" He marveled at how she was able to speak in her state of agony, "Hurt him…you hurt…D-draco.."_

"_He was weak," Bellatrix snarled, "He needed to be taught a lesson."_

"_Murdered your…own...sister…" Her voice was growing fainter and fainter._

_Bellatrix struck out with her hand and slapped her cheek hard. "That'll teach you to go nosing into other people's business."_

"_You're…a monster…" Hermione murmured, her brown eye penetrating into the madwoman's frenzied black ones._

_Bellatrix stood up and pulled her lips back into a snarl, "Night, night, Mudblood."_

"Avada Kedavra._"_

_A thud as Bellatrix's body hit the ground._

_Draco, in Harry's had broken the barrier at the last second and ended the witches' life._

_He rushed and knelt beside the quivering body of Hermione's, kicking Bellatrix's still body away, whose lips was still drawn back in a snarl._

"_H-Harry…" _

"_Shush, don't try to speak," Harry cradled her head, "We'll have you fixed in no time." Hermione reached for his hand and clung it tightly._

"_Should have let her k-kill me…I'm gonna die anyway…" She murmured, her chocolate brown gaze locked on his watery emerald ones._

_Draco said fiercely in Harry's voice, "No! Remember Draco? The promise you gave him? You have to get back for his sake."_

"_D-Draco…I love him so much…" She murmured, blood trickling from her lips, "Tell him…" She coughed out blood, "…Tell him…I'm sorry…I broke my promise…Tell him…I-I tried to keep it…I tried, I r-really did…Tell him…To please forgive me…" Hermione smiled sadly as a tear traced a watery path down her dirty cheek, "…Tell him I will always love him…Take care of him H-Harry…Promise me…Don't let him mourn too long…" _

_Harry choked out, "I promise."_

"_D-don't break it like I did…Tell him…I will love him forever...forever….ever…ever…ever…" Her voice trailed off and her chest rose and fell one last time. She gazed sightlessly into his eyes, and her hands went slack in his grip. _

_Harry let out a sob and closed her eyes with a trembling hand. He carried her to a dark corner, vowing that he would come back later; and rushed off with his eyes blazing. _

_He had a battle to fight, he would win, he would avenge Hermione's death. He would make every lost life count. He was going to make Voldemort pay._

_**Leave Memory**_

_Draco, not inside Harry's body anymore, found himself staggering away from the Pensieve. He swayed on his feet and managed to make it to the toilet before he vomited._

_oOo_

He ran out of tears. His eyes felt swollen and puffy, and he was sure they were bloodshot from the lack of sleep and stress.

He sighed.

_It's been so long…_

He conjured a tulip-her favorite flower-and placed it upon her grave. Even tulips brought back memories.

oOo

"_What's your favorite flower, Draco?" She asked, giving him a charming smile._

"_Roses." He replied. "They remind me of you."_

_She blushed._

"_What's yours?" He asked her in return._

"_Tulips," A cheeky smile adorned her lips, "And I'm sorry to say this but they don't remind me of you."_

"_Obviously," He smirked, "Tulips and Malfoys do not go together."_

_oOo_

He rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"I'm sorry, Hermione," He said reluctantly, "I have to go now; they're expecting me at the Burrow."

It was unfair, how Ginny and Harry got their 'happily ever after' when he was left with the loss of his love.

oOo

"_Draco?" She asked sleepily, her head resting on his chest as they sat on the couch._

"_Hmm?" He said absentmindedly, playing with her hair._

"_Do you believe in-" She yawned, displaying her teeth, "-'happily ever after'? I do." _

_It was a long time before he answered; he just sat there, listening to the birds chirp from outside. _

"_No." He said. But she didn't reply, he looked over and realized that she was already fast asleep._

_He looked at the starts and repeated his answer to them again._

"_No."_

oOo

"No," He found himself whispering, "I don't."

He traced the engraving one last time before whispering, "I'll always love you, Hermione. Goodbye, just for now."

He trudged his way through the snow with his limp slightly slowing him down.

_No, I don't believe in 'happily ever after'._

He stopped in front of the snow-covered gate.

_But, I _do_ believe in 'happily _never_ after'._

In a billow of black robes, Draco Lucius Malfoy left.

Behind, the gate closed soundlessly, the metal chains back in its place.

The wind howled, the trees swayed, the snow fell, and the remaining dry cracked leaves fluttered to the ground.

In the graveyard, a white dove flapped its wings and landed on Hermione Jean Granger's grave, it picked the tulip in its beak and flew up to the sky, toward the clouds, towards the moon…towards heaven.

**A/N: Like it? Hate it? Let me know! Thank you for reading! **


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